EMERCE website reports that Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs for the
Netherlands opened on Monday, April 7, in Amsterdam a center for developers, manufacturers
and distributors of Serious Games. According to the companies involved, it
is the first time that the various parties gather under one roof.

During the event, Minister Kamp introduced
a number of Serious Games examples: Safe
Traffic Netherlands presented an app for children to play & learn for
the practical traffic exam while, on the higher education end, a Serious Game
for surgeons training at the Amsterdam Academic Medical Center (AMC) was
demonstrated.

The Serious Games Center is
located on the Plantage Middenlaan Amsterdam, in a building opposite to the Artis Royal Zoo. The new center shall
accommodate a collection of companies, organizations and initiatives in the
field of Serious Games and is entirely privately funded.

According
to the press release, 44 percent of the 330 companies in the Dutch game
industry are exclusively engaged in the development of Serious Games.

The Plantage
Middenlaan is the main street in the Plantage area of Amsterdam-Centrum
and dates back to the big city expansion in 1658.